User Reviews

The pour was decent. A light pink in color with a huge head of white that came up over the top to a height of around an inch before dropping back down to earth with little in the way of lacing. Aroma was wonderful though. Nice touches of raspberries, hints of light cherry and a touch of sour apples as well. Really quite nice, and very light and refreshing. Smooth and light flavor here as well. Not especially sour, but people need to realize a wild ale does not need to be sour. Anyway. Cherries and Raspberries dominate here, light touches of grape skin, apples and a smooth, and light sugary note to it as well. Light feel and nice prickly carbonation give it an almost champagne like feel, but the drinkability remains very high.

Broken out at our epic LA tasting on 5/7/11 (can't remember who brought this one). Served in a Sinners tulip. Pours a lovely pinkish-orange - no head, just a thin tight band around the shoulders. Nose starts off mild - slightly acidic, a little musty and expresses a trace of horse blanket. As the brew warms, it takes on a slightly medicinal quality and there's a hint of manure and a slightly plasticy character. Taste is salty, tart, and citrusy - it's really hard to tease out all the flavors, but it's pleasantly sour with a trace of cork that comes out towards the back. Mouthfeel is light in body with a lively effervescing carbonation that stimulates the salivary glands along the sides of the cheeks (I can't stop from salivating). There's a residual dryness that lingers at the back of the throat in between quaffs. All and all, a very complex and tasty sour somewhat reminiscent of something from Cantillon. A pretty top notch American Wild I have to say.

From a bottle, pours a slightly hazy salmon pink with a white head that randomly explodes up then violently shoots down. Nose is signature Lost Abbey Funk and tight brett, acidic citrus fruits, perhaps light raspberry, lightly vinous. Flavor profile is nice, and while acidic, it's not so distracting as it is with a lot of other Lost Abbey sours. Burning going down the throat though. Some tight, sweaty brett, lemon and orange pulp, sour. Brings some of the sangria quality of the v006. Somewhat vinous but not overly so, which is nice. This is quality stuff.

Tastes of everything in the smell. Brett, lemons, oak, grapes and the citrus up front, funk and oak in the middle, with an after taste of light vinegar, brett funk, lemons (and other citrus) with a lingering brett and acid aftertaste.

Mouthfeel is moderate with champagne like carbonation. Would be excellent with food- just palate clearing.

Overall, its a great beer. I wish I had another bottle, but LA did a great job with this one. I am impressed with the west coast sours.

A hazy pink with a dense, white head that rises briefly before falling off to a ring, this looks pretty good. The nose is quite excellent. The grapes are quite noticeable with a ripe, fruity, berry-like bouquet. Quite integrated with the sourness too, there's a blend of oak, lemon rinds, a little acetic and a moderate lactic sourness. The palate opens super sharp and sour, so intense that I can't take too big a sip. Fruity, dry, moderately grape-like, this is doesn't have the vinous quality a beer like Vigneronne has (especially in its youth). Moderately and with plenty of lemon rind bitterness and sourness on the finish, this is a little too aggressive for my liking. Unbalanced in that the the sourness doesn't tie things together, it is merely an end in itself. It is also over-carbonated, and doesn't seem to be particularly well-structured or conditioned. Still, decent and enjoyable.

**Edit 01 July 2012**
Thanks, Matt. This blend has grown to be increasingly nasty every time I've had this, and the trend continues. Tastes sour with a moderate grape character, poor structure and flavors. Disappointing.
3/3/3

S: The nose was awesome. Sour right up front with lactic acid. A touch of funk. The grapes came across nicely. Little bit of citrus thrown in. I was surprised by the amount of fruit in the nose.

T: Sour right up front and it never loosens it's grip. Really intense sour balanced out by some bret. The grapes are there but you get more of a citrus taste something like the rind of a lemon or grapefruit.

M: Nice and dry body. The bugs really ate this one down. The carbonation was high but it really worked.

D: This beer would make a great substitute for champagne during New Years. The sourness did become a little overwhelming after a few glasses but I drank my way through it. Really nice beer.

Poured into a mini snifter, veritas appears a lightly hazed peachy color. A cap of white head appears composed of fairly large bubbles that recede to a ring of bubbles around the inside of the glass. A light swirl revives the cap.

The aroma of this brew smells of funky goodness with notes of cheese and some earthy tones. A light fruitiness almost reminescent of strawberry is evident before the aroma of Brett takes over with a solid nose of wet leather. Once warm, this brew picks up indications of the woodsy oak aging.

The taste is funky with an acidic sourness. This is a bone dry offering. Big salivation factor here, it seemingly removes the moisture right from your tongue and makes you pucker. A light cheesy flavor that moves to more of a brett'd quality. After taste of fruit skins, lightly bitter with a funky and earthy quality, it's oaky and tannic.

Light in the feel with a bold amount of carbonation that really pops in the mouth. Bone dry finish with a bit of piercing oaked flavor. Despite the aggressive flavors of this brew it was a delight to drink and excessively drinkable. I never could have guessed this was 8% abv.

Beer is golden and mildly hazy with a thin head that disappears quickly leaving a halo of bubbles at the edge of the glass, minimal lacing.

Beer has a strong grape aroma with some acetic and lactic sourness. The primary winner here is grapes.

Beer is thin and nicely carbonated on the palate. It tastes really nice. Again, there is ALMOST too much fruit in here, its not overpowering but its really fruit forward. I really like this beer. Its a nice sour beer. I'd have more, if that were possible.

T: Ass-puckeringly sour. The fruits are pushed to the very tail end, where they meld with the intense sourness in a delectable finish. Not as complex as the nose, but still great. I do love a truly sour sour.

Notes: This was the first beer I went for after getting in the door, and it was quite possibly the best one I drank all night. It was certainly the most sour, and yet had great fruit and funk components to keep me interested as well as puckered. Great beer, plain and simple.

Pours a slightly hazy pinkish-ruby red color with a 1.5-finger whitish-pink head. The head recedes into a wispy layer on top leaving decent lacing.

Smells of tart berries with moderate amounts of funk and lighter amounts of oak.

Tastes similar to how it smells. Very tart berry flavors kick things off and are joined by hints of lactic sourness. Midway through the sip the berry flavors fade a bit, tempered by tannins from the oak. Right before a crisp and very tart ending solid amounts of funk come into play.

Mouthfeel is good. It's got a nice thickness with active carbonation.

Drinkability is also good. I finished my glass without any problems and could have another.

Overall I was expecting more from this beer. It looks great and tastes just as good but it's lacking some refinement. There's a lot of complexity but the layers seem to overlap rather than fit into their own spaces. Still, if it weren't for my high expectations I would be very pleased with this beer and it's still worth a shot.

Got to try this at the CO sour tasting last weekend. Pours copper/pink with big white head. Smells extremely acidic, with notes of various fruits blended together. Taste is extremely sour, with tart fruit - lemon, apple, grapes dominating. Some funk in here, but it's restrained. This actually reminds me a bit of Veritas 006. Body is medium with prickling high carbonation. Another great entry in the Veritas series.

Bottle, thanks to mothman for sharing.
Pours a copper amber color with maybe a slight pink tinge. White head that laces well on the glass. Some sediment floating around. Sour lemon tart aromas along with some minimal oak and funk notes. Sweet light fruit flavors of strawberry, peach, and grape at first that then is followed by a pretty tart sour lemon taste. Light mouthfeel with some good carbonation. A very well done beer in my opinion.

Aroma: The cab grapes are very apparent giving it a wine like nose. Has notes of strawberries and oak as well. Very funky. I would go with horseblanket on this one. Sour notes all around. Reminds me of the other LA sours. Sweet and funky.

Taste: A sweetness at first with the sour kicking in quickly. Lots of fruits here. Peaches, strawberries, cherries, and grapes all show. This is mouthpuckering sour. Lots of funk. Leather and horseblanket. Oak, spices, and lemon zest also show. It is acidic, but in a good way.

Mouthfeel: Very sour. Mouthpuckering goodness. A bit fizzy from the carbonation, but not bad. A lighter bodied beer. Ends a bit dry with slight notes of brett.

Overall, another great sour from Lost Abbey. These guys continue to dominate the american sour world. Great appearance, great nose, great flavor, great feel. It is pretty drinkable for how sour it is. Very happy to have had this one.

EDIT: As I got through my first glass, I tasted more and more grapefruit flavor.

The beer is a slow gusher that is easy to keep on top of. A steady pour into my large Tripel Karmeliet tulip produces a three finger thick, largish bubbled, pale, off-white colored head. As the head slowly subsides it leaves some layered lacing patterns on the sides of my glass. The beer is a murky amber hue (with some chunks apparent) that shows a very chunky, pink / pale-amber color when held up to the light. The aroma smells of very tart berries and spicy / woody oak from afar. A closer inspection has me noticing notes of blackberries, perhaps a touch of tart cherry, a solid lactic sourness and some fruity acidity too, all of these up front. Towards the finish of the nose there is a solid oak structure that contributes aromas of dusty wood shavings, a touch of vanillin, some Bourbon-like oak spiciness, as well as a mellow oak character. Funky aromatics of musty clay, a hint of musky animal B.O., a hint of underlying overly ripe farmhouse cheese, moldy mushroom aromatics and even a hint of urea. After a particular intense round with the nose signature Brettanomyces notes really start to come out; full on butyric acid musk / goat character, phenolic soaked cotton-balls and sweat-dried cured leather notes add a complexity, though underlying and dank quality to this beer's aroma.

A very prickly carbonation couples with a bracing sourness that is mostly huge-lactic, but also has a sharp, acetic edge to it; the combination of the carbonation and the sourness make my mouth pucker up quite well during my first sip. My seconds sip isn't quite so mouth puckering, but the ample oak-influence also tends to accentuate this with an astringent, tannic, raw woodiness that isn't too over-the-top. The oak definitely plays a secondary role to the acidity here, but it is easily the second most noticeable flavor. By contrast the grapes and base beer play a much, much more subdued role than either of these two flavors. After some time the sourness couples with other notes to bring out some flavors of raspberries, some Chardonnay like grape character (the oak seems to bring this out a bit). Spicy, peppery, woody oak notes add some bite to the finish that serves the hop role of a more traditional beer. With the generic 8%abv label that the Veritas beers get stuck with it is hard to know how strong this beer actually is, while it is a sipping beer, it drinks like a light enough strong-sour, sort of a big brother to a Lambic.

My second pour of this beer sees me noticing an almost Kool-Aid-like fruitiness that has overtones of tropical fruit and a big strawberry component; strangely this is only noticeable if I smell this non-directly, as a direct snort of the nose sees me mostly noticing oak and sourness. The flavor actually picks up more fruitiness too; actually if I lick my lips after taking a sip I can even taste the strawberry flavors directly; but there is definitely more of a bright, berry fruit character (with fruit-punch or perhaps even tropical fruit overtones to it) noticeable in my second pour. The sourness and oak seems to become more balanced as well (though this might be attributable to palate fatigue, but I don't think this is entirely the case).

There is a definite sour edge to this beer that is more than Lactic acid in character, but I am not sure it is acetic acid; if it is acetic acid it is an extremely soft touch, one that works quite well here (though it might just be malic or other acid character from the grapes). I can't believe how dirty this beer looks, even leaving the beer in the bottle for 30 seconds after pouring it was enough to stir up lots of floaties and chunks into my first pour; luckily this does not seem to have affected the flavor or aroma much. The up front berry character isn't nearly as noticeable in the flavor as it is in the aroma, which is a bit of let down. In general the aroma is more complex and interesting than the flavor, but if you like sour beers this will definitely please you no matter what. It is definitely worth waiting to let this beer warm up significantly as a more expressive fruit character become noticeable, more importantly the balance and finesse of this beer improves impressively and it goes from being merely enjoyable to fantastic.

HUGE thanks to Sean for surprising me and bringing this over...Pours a tangerine pink with a lot of white carbonation, most interesting color I've seen for a sour...The aroma is sour candy start to finish, its not super complex but really nice tartness from start to finish...The taste is also sour from start to finish but super easy to drink. Gives you exactly what you from a sour, almost a sessionable sour.

Into a tulip, pours a soapy head atop a reddish/rosey body, exhibiting some thick legs as I tilt the glass. The head reemerges nice and thick upon agitation, and the overall aesthetic is very pleasing.

Aromas exhibit an overall acidic bouquet, with slightly floral notes nearly tickling the nose hairs. Upon additional whiffs I smell some berries and a little bit of perfume.

t - Tastes of grapes, berries, and sour dark fruits. Some wine and funkiness to it. Very well balanced and enjoyable.

m - Medium body and moderate carbonation.

d - A very enjoyable sour from Lost Abbey. I really enjoyed the smell and taste and if you like sour dark fruits you'll probably love this one. Would like to try again, as well as the other Veritas beers.

I'm not usually one for "landmark" reviews, but I notice that this is my 100th review of a beer on-tap...

Served in a 10oz nonic at Blue Palms Brewhouse. The keg was very fresh and had just finished chilling when I got my glass.

Opaque cerise body is suffused with ruby highlights...an almost neon beer. A dense magnolia head is pasted over the surface and leaves no room for complaints about carbonation.

The acidity is palpable from across the bar - a bit of funk comes out in the nose as well suggesting Brett. and a variety of sour fermenting fruit.

Bracing sourness on the palate surpassing my expectations - along with a distinctive undercurrent that is very difficult to describe (I can't identify an analog for this flavor), possibly from the choice of yeast coming together with other micro-organisms. A lactic tartness is combined with a hint of unripe wild strawberry and a singular mixture of almost kombucha-like fungal/bacterial elements. The sourness and funk seem to unfurl exponentially as the beer warms. There is fruit throughout, but it isn't easily identifiable, and is likely derived more from the character of Cabernet franc grapes than from any actual berries, plums, etc. The oak adds a very delicate flavor as well, suggesting sweet wood, but otherwise gets out of the way.

Aroma was an incredible juxtaposition of grape, lemon, grapefruit and some vanilla and oak with just a hint of barnyard.

The taste was out of this world. So incredibly balanced between the rich fruitiness of the grapes balanced with a ton of lactic sourness and a slightly sweet finish, not leaving your mouth puckering. Only got better as it warmed.